Grace

These are some of the things we did right, even though I had no idea what I was doing.

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1. I accidentally bought the animal from a good breeder. Basically anything we've done right since the little man came home is because of accidentally doing this. Pet stores are often not keeping chameleons in the right environment- and you learn pretty quick that these things are like spoiled rich kids- they get what they want or they get sick and they die. Apparently it's easy to unknowingly buy an imported chameleon that was caught in the wild, and the chance of you bringing home filth and disease goes through the roof then. I wandered in to a place where this groovy guy has been breeding reptiles for 15 years. He was respectful of his animals; they were clean and fed; and now that I know a little more I can see that they were well kept. He was also a smart breeder, bringing fresh blood into his gene-pools, keeping it clean, selecting for good traits. Quality lizard guy, I think so far. I have no more idea of how to find a good lizard breeder than you do, but here you can find a gateway to all kinds of chameleon resources. Just don't do what I did. Do your homework first and not after. We got lucky.

2. I accidentally put the lizard in a good environment. Quiet room, right size cage, right shape cage, right cage decoration, proper lamps. My Lizard Guy set me up with all the bits and pieces and strange powders and cricket foods and etcetera.

3. We gave the little guy a low-stress homecoming. Well, this is a lie. We overhandled him, as I said, on the first night, but after that, my wife and I just naturally backed off, and left him alone for the next couple days, except for his care. Lizard Guy told me that everything is great with this animal if you always remember to respect this animal. I learned a few fun tricks. These guys live in trees, and they feel safest when they are higher up in the tree than any visible potential marauders. So, if you keep your head below his eye level, he's a much more relaxed chameleon.

4. I started reading about Veiled Chameleon Care from multiple sources. I'm an idiot. I did this after I brought the thing home. You do this before.

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Get a load of me pontificating on chameleon care. Four days ago my entire life was utterly without chameleons. I'm no expert, I'm just trying to take a snapshot of us figuring it out as we go along... Really, I'm just trying not to kill the chameleon.